Cuckolded Husband Barred from Suing Man Who Stole Away His Wife

Can you sue someone for sleeping with your spouse and ruining your marriage?

That very question was considered by West Virginia’s highest court in an unusual case decided this week.

The dispute before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals centered around a cuckolded husband who accused an insurance salesman of having an affair with his wife to induce her into purchasing an annuity. He sought over $500,000 in damages.

The issue before the justices had to do with the distinction between two types of matrimonial tort claims — criminal conversation and alienation of affections. Both are common-law causes of action that allow an aggrieved spouse to sue somebody for wrecking a marriage.

But while criminal conversation involves claims of adultery, the latter one doesn’t necessarily entail extramarital sex. Claims of alienation of affections can be brought against anybody — including family members — who maliciously caused a happy marriage to unravel.

Most states stopped recognizing these so-called “wife-stealing” torts years ago. But they still exist in a handful of states, including North Carolina where they’ve come under legal challenge. A Forsyth County judge ruled earlier this month that the state’s alienation of affections and criminal conversation laws are unconstitutional.

In the case of West Virginia, the state abolished all civil actions for alienation of affections in 1969, but lawmakers there never explicitly eliminated criminal conversation claims.

In a 4-1 ruling on Monday, which was reported by the Charleston Gazette, justices concluded that despite the law’s silence, the statute could still be interpreted as having abolished the adultery tort, leaving the plaintiff with no grounds to sue the man he blames for his divorce.

Justice Allen Loughry, who dissented, said that if that’s how West Virginia lawmakers intended the statute to be read, they would have made the language more precise.

He noted that in 28 states where alienation of affections torts have been abolished, the laws also include separate provisions doing away with criminal conversation claims.

Rod Jackson, a lawyer for the plaintiff, told Law Blog that the court got it wrong but said justices probably feared that recognizing the tort of criminal conversation would risk “opening a can of worms,” leading to a surge of lawsuits against alleged home-wreckers.

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The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

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